Comprehensive two‐dimensional gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry: A review

Abstract

Although comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC Â GC) has been on the scene for more than 15 years, it is still generally considered a relatively novel technique and is yet far from being fully established. The revolutionary aspect of GC Â GC, with respect to classical multidimensional chromatography, is that the entire sample is subjected to two distinct analytical separations. The resulting enhanced separating capacity makes this approach a prime choice when GC analysts are challenged with highly complex mixtures. The combination of a third mass spectrometric dimension to a GC Â GC system generates the most powerful analytical tool today for volatile and semi-volatile analytes. The present review is focused on the rather brief, but not scant, history of comprehensive two-dimensional GC-MS: the first experiments were carried out at the end of the 1990s and, since then, the methodology has been increasingly studied and applied. Almost all GC Â GC-MS applications have been carried out by using either a time-of-flight or quadrupole mass analyzer; significant experiments relative to a variety of research fields, as well as advantages and disadvantages of the MS systems employed, are discussed. The principles, practical and theoretical aspects, and the most significant developments of GC Â GC are also described. #

Allergic asthma exhaled breath metabolome: A challenge for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography

“…The secondary oven temperature programme was 15 • C offset above the primary oven. The MS transfer line temperature was 250 • C and the MS source temperature was 250 • C. A 6 s modulation time with a 30 • C secondary oven temperature offset (above primary oven) was chosen to be a suitable compromise as it maintained the 1 D separation, maximized the 2 D resolution, and avoiding wrap-around effect (the elution time of a pulsed solute exceeds the modulation period) for compounds that were late to elute from the 2 D. Ideally, all peaks must be detected before the subsequent re-injection and, hence, 2 t R must be equal or less than the modulation period [15,16]. The ToFMS was operated at a spectrum storage rate of 125 spectra/s.…”

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography for fingerprint pattern recognition in olive oils produced by two different techniques in Portuguese olive varieties Galega Vulgar, Cobrançosa e Carrasquenha

“…In the last decade, two-dimensional-GC (2D-GC) experienced a broader diffusion mainly due to its selectivity (three dimensions if mass spectrometric data are considered), high sensitivity (allowed by the peak focusing), enhance separation power and speed [25,26]. The quantity and variety of information thus provided by 2D-GC systems promoted the increasingly application of chemometrics in order to allow the data interpretation in a useful and potentially easy way [27][28][29][30][31][32].…”

Gas Chromatographic Analysis of Plant and Insect Surface Compounds: Cuticular Waxes and Terpenoids

“…Thus a combination of a non-polar column with a polar column may be a good first choice for a suitable dual column set for essential oils. The principles, practical and theoretical aspects, and the most significant developments of GC×GC were reviewed by Mondello et al (2008). There are several reports of GCxGC used for determining essential oils (Dimandja et al, 2000;Shellie et al, 2003;Shellie et al, 2001).…”